Background

In early 2009 a chance discovery located an ancestor in the Newcastle Industrial School, Newcastle, NSW, in 1869.1 Even though I am a Newcastle resident I had never heard of this 'school' and initially thought that an admission might be a good thing. After contacting the Central Library in Newcastle and NSW State Records it was discovered that there was little understanding of the school as records for the Newcastle institution were 'lost'. This response provoked a plan to attempt to create a list of the girls who were admitted to the school and by the end of 2010, just over one hundred girls had been uncovered. At this point further investigation of the SRNSW website indicated that the records were available but had not been identified as related in any way to Newcastle.2 These registers and ledgers were photographed and the discovery was subsequently made that the admissions contained gaps. The index for the register became available in August 2012. Names appearing in the register and in the associated Biloela Discharge Register (from 1876) may be located by searching the 'Child Care and Protection' Index but the index contains no reference to the girls whose names appear in the lost pages between October 1869 and November 1876 unless they were discharged after 1876.3 Copies are available for purchase from SRNSW4 and are also now available for viewing on Ancestry. These basic records and their errors and limitations are analysed in the Sources section of this site. The details in this material led to the modification of creating a basic list, and it was decided instead to look at the background of these fascinating girls in this fascinating time and the more I looked the more astounded I became … and from there the project grew 'like Topsy.'

The Industrial School (foreground) and Reformatory (rear)Photograph Jane Ison, 2012

Synopsis

Little is known of the Newcastle institution and the girls who were admitted yet, at the time, the inmates and their behaviour were infamous and stories of their exploits frequently featured in local and national newspapers. This research has identified the admissions to Newcastle missing from the Entrance Book and most of those admissions missing from Biloela. The lives of the girls admitted to Newcastle and the lives of the staff who managed the Newcastle site have been investigated. This site contributes further knowledge concerning Newcastle's role in the history of Child Welfare in NSW and to the understandings of the plight of children at this period in Australia's past.

About this research

While official records for the Newcastle Industrial School are now readily available, the main register is incomplete and doesn't identify that any admissions for the first four years of the Act were made to Newcastle as the transfer date to Biloela was contained within the pages that have not survived. There are also errors in the register made at the time of admission – including in the surnames of some of the inmates. This research has identified all the girls who were sent to the Newcastle Industrial School – including admission numbers 119 to 187 – as well as all the admissions to the separate institution, the Newcastle Reformatory.

One major discovery made whilst undertaking this research was identifying gaps in admissions made under the Act for the Relief of Destitute Children where records for both girls and boys have not survived. The names of most of the girls or young boys admitted to Biloela – admission numbers 188 to 344 – have been identified5 and are listed on the Biloela page on this site. Complete records for the Newcastle Reformatory, Biloela Reformatory and Shaftesbury Reformatory between and including 1869 and 1887 have not survived so girls admitted to any of these locations between these dates are recorded on this site. This research has further uncovered that admissions of boys to the Vernon between July 1877 and approximately 1886 have not survived. It is unclear how many Vernon registers have been lost. A list of boys admitted to The Vernon is in the process of being compiled. Missing admissions to any of these four industrial schools or reformatories are added to this site whenever details are found.

The difficulties I encountered when completing my family history forced me to reconsider the way I viewed those who lived in this historical period and further to build a personal understanding of the lives of those individuals who, in the main, lived on the edges of society during the mid to late 1800s. It is common for family researchers to assume that when a person married, their family was nearby and prior to undertaking this research I did the same. These girls – and the boys who were sent to the Vernon – were arrested from across NSW. They often married and settled hundreds of kilometres from their place of birth and their family.

Disclaimer

Members of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Maori communities are advised that this site contains names of deceased people.

All users of the site should also be aware that certain words, terms or descriptions may be culturally sensitive and may be considered inappropriate today, but may have reflected the author’s/creator’s attitude or that of the period in which they were written. The language used in the records of the 1800s referring to the Indigenous people who lived in Australia before European settlement has been retained even though these terms are now inappropriate. This is also true of the language used in records referring to immigrants of non-European background and also to members of the population of Australia who were born with or acquired a disability. SRNSW states:6

(p. 9) 3.2.3 How to refer to offensive and unacceptable language used in records
In publishing or writing about State archives relating to Indigenous people it may be necessary to use the offensive terms to place the records in their historical context. In this case a note should always be provided stating:Editorial note: This is the language as used in the record.

Descendants and other readers also need to be aware that this site outlines personal inmate histories that may be of concern to them because sometimes unpleasant or distressing situations involving some of the inmates have been uncovered. Details of events published in Trove have been included and these circumstances are now on the public record so are freely available. The following disclaimer appears in Trove.

Trove contains digital reproductions of articles originally published and made publicly available in Australian newspapers, journals and books. Content which was published legally is not censored.

Graphic details located in letters, trials or other undigitised records held at NSW State Records, either in the CSIL or in other 'hard' copies, have not been reproduced on this site.

Staff

There was a small staff at the school who were directly under the supervision and direction of the superintendent. Their names and details are still being added to the site. A matron, house matrons, teacher, storekeeper, laundress, gate keeper and cook were employed. Some members of staff and their families lived onsite and many of the Newcastle staff were transferred to Biloela. A medical attendant made regular visits or came to the school on request. Each of these people contributed to the welfare of their charges – most in a positive manner – and deserve to have their work recognised. The compassionate teacher, Margaret P. KELLY and the superintendent, Joseph Hines CLARKE and his wife, Marian, the matron, who tried to provide a consistent and caring environment where girls were aware of the consequences of their actions, have been either ignored by history or recorded as lacking. Are you a descendant of a staff member? Can you confirm whether my research is correct as only descendants will have access to the necessary marriage and death registrations that will verify my 'educated guesses'? Do you have an image of any of the employees of the Newcastle Industrial School?

Inmates

Who were these girls? Until recently their names were lost to the passage of time but now, for most inmates, we know a little of their lives, experiences and the period in which they lived. Many of their stories are quite remarkable and many flourished after their discharge. While the separation from family was difficult, there is no doubt – albeit only circumstantial evidence – that the government made attempts to apprentice most of the inmates back to the area from whence they had been arrested.

The main aim of this project was to investigate the admission of each girl, locate her year and place of birth, identify her family, trace her marriage, her children and her death and incorporate these facts into a biography. In most cased this has been done. With rare exceptions, each story is a tale of the poor, vulnerable and disenfranchised during the nineteenth century and every girl deserves to be remembered. It has not been possible to identify every girl even though each girl now has a name. A very large number of the parents or grandparents of inmates had been transported to Australia and the circumstances under which most of them were arrested are tragic. Their combined histories give an insight into society in NSW in the 1860s and 1870s.

Unlike most wives and daughters in this time period, these women were often in the news for all the wrong reasons – but at least they appeared in their own right. Unfortunately, the reasons for which they appear as girls are often the same reasons that they disappear later in life and many had good reasons to hide their past. I am very interested to discover their fates and sincerely hope that any descendants will contact me and provide further details and references that will allow others to read about them or add detail to those who made a success of a life that began so badly. What happened to them? Where have they gone? Did they have children? I would also appreciate feed-back from anyone who views the site even if they aren't descendants. If it is possible for other researchers to get a handle on any of these elusive women, please provide the information that you have uncovered – even if it is simply to eliminate another dead end.

I have provided full details of the records I have used and have given full credit to the useful links that I have found online and hope that the same courtesy will be given to my work. Please use the references, inform me when I have omitted a reference and let me know if there are errors. My intention has always been to make my discoveries and understandings freely available, to provide an unbiased account of each of the inmates and therefore make the research for others easier. I sincerely hope that descendants will locate and use the information provided on this site but that they will also contact me. Can you confirm whether my research is correct as, while a grant from the RAHS will assist with the purchase of some registrations, it will not be possible to purchase birth, marriage or death records for every girl – even if they are able to be located. It is almost certain that descendants will have access to records for those women who never registered a marriage. Can you add more to the lives of the possessors of these fascinating but often sad stories?

These girls survived childhood diseases, a difficult or turbulent early life and their life in the school and often their early employment as a single girl alone in a pioneering area. Most went on to be mothers or aunts of descendants who are now searching for this ancestry. The researchers for the families of the girls listed below have very generously provided biographical information – and occasionally valuable images – of their ancestor. Would you be able to do the same? Could your 'brickwall' also be on this site? If you find an ancestor here, please consider contacting me so that your knowledge and research can also be shared. I greatly appreciated the input from the descendants or relatives of the following inmates.

The input of descendants of the following Biloela inmates who have provided details of the lives of their ancestors has been greatly appreciated and without that input the stories of the following girls would remain unknown.

There are 193 inmate biographies on this site and almost all tell fascinating stories. For visitors who are interested in reading just a selection of lives and don't know where to start, the following table may help. No girl had a monopoly on any one criteria, and many experienced a mixture of different circumstances and situations.

3. Caution should be used when viewing the online index as currently it contains some errors with admission numbers and all lengths of apprenticeship have been recorded as an age. See further analysis in Sources. Some notations in the register recorded in pencil do not appear on the online index.